TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s government is considering raising its economic growth forecast for fiscal 2022 to take into account the effects of its record $490 billion stimulus package, state broadcaster NHK reported on Monday.

In a mid-year review in July, the government projected real gross domestic product (GDP) growth of around 2.2% for the financial year beginning in April 2022. With the spending program aimed at helping businesses and households ride out the pain of the COVID-19 pandemic, it now estimates a tailwind of around 5.6% for real GDP this fiscal year next, NHK said.

Japan has lagged other economies in emerging from the pandemic-induced crisis, forcing policymakers to maintain massive fiscal and monetary support even as other advanced nations roll back crisis-mode policies.

The world’s third-largest economy shrank more than expected in the third quarter as consumption and exports were hit by pandemic curbs and global supply disruptions.

Japan’s three massive spending programs to counter the pandemic have left it with outstanding long-term debt roughly double the size of its $5 trillion economy.

(Reporting by Chang-Ran Kim; editing by Richard Pullin)

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